(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Today, we continue telling about the administration of President George Herbert Walker Bush. He was elected the forty-first president of the United States in nineteen eighty-eight. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union ended under the administration of President George Bush. This very tense period had lasted more than forty years. The invention of weapons that could kill millions of people at one time increased worldwide fears during this period. The world was changing greatly however, during the late nineteen eighties. The Soviet Union was dying. On November ninth, nineteen eighty-nine, East Germany opened the Berlin Wall for the first time since it had been built. This wall had divided Communist East Germany from the West since nineteen sixty-one. Citizens and soldiers soon began tearing it down. The fall of the Berlin Wall ended much of the fear and tension between democratic nations and the Soviet Union. Tensions continued to ease as Communist rule in most of the former Soviet countries ended by the early nineteen nineties. Fifteen republics had belonged to the Soviet Union. By the end of nineteen ninety-one, most had declared their independence.
President Bush recognized all the former Soviet republics. They became a very loosely formed coalition called the Commonwealth of Independent States. Countries that had considered the United States the enemy, now looked to it to lead the way to peace. As the Soviet Union was dying, President Bush repeatedly negotiated with Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. In the spring of nineteen ninety, for example, their meeting in the United States resulted in an important agreement. It called for each side to destroy most of its chemical weapons. The two men also agreed to improve trade and economic relations. The American and Soviet presidents met in July, nineteen ninety-one, in Moscow. There, the two leaders signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, called START ONE. This treaty called for both the Soviet Union and the United States to reduce their supply of long-range nuclear bombs and missiles. Each promised to decrease its supply by about one-third over seven years. START ONE became the first agreement between the two powers that ordered cuts in supplies of existing nuclear weapons. In September nineteen ninety-one, President Bush said the United States would remove most of its short-range nuclear weapons from service. He also said the United States would destroy many of these weapons. The next month, the Soviet nations announced the same actions. On December twenty-fifth, Mikhail Gorbachev officially resigned as Soviet president.The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ended. As president of Russia, Boris Yeltsin became the most important leader of the former Soviet Republics. President Bush and President Yeltsin signed another arms treaty in January, nineteen ninety-three. This START TWO agreement provided for reducing long-range nuclear weapons to half the number planned for START ONE. Cuts were to be made over seven years. George Bush ordered American forces into battle two times during his administration. These conflicts were not linked to disputes with Communist governments. In December nineteen eighty-nine, he sent troops to Panama. The goal was to oust the dictator, General Manuel Antonio Noriega. Noriega had refused to honor election results that showed another candidate had been elected president of Panama. The United States also wanted Noriega on illegal drug charges. In addition, President Bush said he sent troops in to protect thirty five-thousand Americans living in the Central American nation. American soldiers easily defeated Noriega's forces. He was taken to the United States for trial. The United States then supported the presidency of Guillermo Endara, who had officially won the presidential election in Panama. In August nineteen ninety, Iraq invaded Kuwait.
The United States and other nations were receiving much of their oil from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The United Nations declared a resolution clearly threatening war on Iraq unless it withdrew from Kuwait by January fifteenth, nineteen ninety-one. But Iraq failed to obey. President Bush succeeded in forming a coalition with thirty-eight other countries against Iraq. The coalition wanted to free Kuwait and protect Saudi Arabia from invasion by Iraq. President Bush sent hundreds of thousands of American troops into the effort. The Persian Gulf War began in Iraq on January seventeenth, nineteen ninety-one. At first, the coalition bombed Iraqi targets in Iraq and Kuwait. The bombing destroyed or damaged many important centers. On February twenty-sixth, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered his troops to leave Kuwait. The order came too late. The Iraqis were surrounded. Major ground attacks on Iraq and Kuwait defeated Saddam Hussein's forces in a little more than four days. Only about three hundred-seventy coalition troops died in the Persian Gulf War. Some military experts say as many as one hundred-thousand Iraqi fighters may have been killed in the fighting.
Others say far fewer Iraqi soldiers died. However, thousands of civilians were thought to have died in Iraq and Kuwait. Kuwait suffered severe damage. But it was free. After the war Saddam Hussein still controlled his country. Years later, some Americans continued to criticize the Bush Administration for not trying to oust the Iraqi leader. They believed President Bush should have urged that coalition forces try to capture the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. After the war ended, Kurdish people in northern Iraq fought to oust the Iraqi leader. So did Shi-ite Muslims in southern Iraq. These groups suffered crushing defeat. The defeated Kurds fled to Iran, Turkey, and the northern Iraqi mountains. Thousands of Kurds died or suffered from war injuries, disease, and starvation. In April, President Bush ordered American troops to work with other coalition nations to give humanitarian aid to the refugees. The troops established refugee camps for the Kurds. As time passed, Iraqi soldiers and aircraft continued to attack Kurds in the north and Shi-ite Muslims in the south. Coalition forces led by the United States established safety areas in northern and southern Iraq. Years later, these "no fly" areas still restricted Iraqi military air activity. President Bush also ordered American military troops to join other troops in Somalia.
By late nineteen ninety-two, lack of rain and continuing civil war had caused widespread suffering there. Opposing armed ethnic groups were keeping Somalis from receiving food and other aid supplies. American soldiers helped in the effort to get aid to the starving people. The North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, was signed in late nineteen ninety-two. It called for the United States and Mexico to remove taxes and other trade barriers. Mexico and Canada agreed to take similar action. NAFTA became effective in nineteen ninety-four, after George Bush had left office. Some people feared that NAFTA would hurt millions of workers. Others praised President Bush for supporting the agreement. By the third year of his four-year term, President Bush's international activities had made him an extremely popular president. It seemed he would be easily re-elected in nineteen ninety two. Historians often say, however, that political situations can change quickly. That is what happened to America's forty-first president. Economic problems and other issues inside the United States began to seriously damage the great popularity of George Herbert Walker Bush.重点解析
1.called for呼吁
I called for the draft agreement you sent us one week ago.
我打电话是关于你一周前寄来的那份协议草案。
2.illegal drug非法药物
Finally, their product was seized by the FDA and taken off the shelf for being an illegal drug.
最后，他们的产品以非法药物的名义被美国食品及药物管理局要求撤下货架，并没收。
3.resulted in导致
The boom in building has resulted in the local land being more valuable now for houses.
营造业的兴旺导致了目前当地房屋建筑土地价格上涨。
4.trade barriers贸易壁垒
Li said such a trade barrier would be a "disaster".
李高称这样的贸易壁垒将是一场“灾难”。
5.civil war 内战
The clergymen of the Christian Church were often rabbled in the civil war.
内战期间基督教教士常常受到袭击。
参考译文
今天，我们继续为您讲述乔治·赫伯特·沃克·布什执政的故事。1988年，乔治·赫伯特·沃克·布什担任美国第41任总统。美国和苏联之间的冷战在布什总统执政期间结束。美苏冷战持续了四十多年。在这段时间里，能够同时杀死数百万人武器的发明使全世界人民惊恐万分。然而，20世纪80年代末，世界发生了巨大的变化，苏联正在走向解体。1989年11月9日，东德首次开放了柏林墙，这是自柏林墙建成以来的首次开放。自1961年起，柏林墙就将共产主义东德和西德分隔开来。市民和士兵很快就开始拆除它。柏林墙的倒塌结束了民主国家和苏联之间的恐惧紧张关系。随着90年代初共产主义统治在大多数前苏联国家的结束，紧张局势持续缓和。有十五个共和国属于苏联，到1991年底，大多数已经宣布独立。布什总统承认所有前苏联共和国。这些前苏联共和国国家组成一个松散的联盟——独立国家联合体。那些曾经视美国为敌人的国家，现在却希望美国能引领和平之路。随着苏联解体，布什总统多次与苏联领导人戈尔巴乔夫进行谈判。例如，1990年春天，两国领导人在美国的会面达成了一项重要协议。协议呼吁双方销毁大部分化学武器，他们还同意改善经贸关系。
1991年7月，美国和苏联总统在莫斯科会面。两位领导人在莫斯科签署了《削减战略武器条约I》。条约要求苏联和美国减少远程核弹和导弹的供应。两家公司都承诺在七年内减少三分之一的供应量。《削减战略武器条约I》成为两个大国之间要求削减现有核武器的供应的第一份协议。1991年9月，布什总统声称美国将停止使用大部分短程核武器。他还表示，美国将销毁许多武器。第二个月，苏联国家宣布了同样的行动。12月25日，戈尔巴乔夫正式辞去总统职务。苏维埃社会主义共和国联盟停止存在。俄罗斯总统——鲍里斯·叶利钦成为前苏联共和国最重要的领导人。1993年1月，布什总统和叶利钦总统签署了另一项武器条约。《削减战略武器条约 II》规定，将远程核武器数量削减至《削减战略武器条约I》计划数量的一半。将持续七年。布什执政期间曾两次命令美国军队参战。这些冲突与与共产主义政府的争端无关。1989年12月，布什派遣军队到巴拿马。目的是推翻独裁者曼纽尔·安东尼奥·诺列加将军。诺列加拒绝承认另一名候选人当选巴拿马总统的选举结果。美国还以非法毒品罪通缉诺列加。此外，布什总统表示派遣军队保护生活在中美洲国家的3万5千名美国人。美国士兵轻松击败了诺列加的军队，诺列加被带到美国接受审判。美国当时支持吉列尔莫·恩达拉担任总统，吉列尔莫·恩达拉已经赢得了巴拿马的总统选举。1990年8月，伊拉克入侵科威特。美国和其他国家从科威特和沙特阿拉伯获得了大量石油。联合国宣布了一项决议，除非伊拉克在1991年1月15日之前从科威特撤出，否则对其开战，布什总统成功地与其他38个国家组成了反伊拉克联盟。联军希望解放科威特，保护沙特阿拉伯免受伊拉克的入侵。布什总统派遣了成千上万的美国军队投入这一行动。1991年1月17日，波斯湾战争在伊拉克开始。起初，联军在伊拉克和科威特轰炸了伊拉克。摧毁了许多重要的中心。2月26日，伊拉克领导人萨达姆·侯赛因命令从科威特撤军。命令下达的太晚了，伊拉克军队被包围了。在四天多的时间里，萨达姆·侯赛因的军队在对伊拉克和科威特的主要地面攻击中被击败。联军只有大约370名士兵在波斯湾战争中丧生。一些军事专家表示，伊拉克的死亡人数可能多达10万。其他人说，伊拉克士兵的死亡人数要少得多。然而，据信，成千上万的平民在伊拉克和科威特丧生。科威特遭受严重破坏，但获得了自由。战后，萨达姆仍然掌管伊拉克政权。多年后，一些美国人继续批评布什政府未曾试图驱逐伊拉克领导人。他们认为布什总统应该敦促联军部队设法占领伊拉克首都巴格达。战争结束后，伊拉克北部的库尔德人为推翻伊拉克领导人而战斗。伊拉克南部的什叶派穆斯林也是如此，这些组织遭受了毁灭性的溃败。被击败的库尔德人逃到了伊朗、土耳其和伊拉克北部山区。数以千计的库尔德人死于战争、疾病和饥饿。
4月，布什总统下令美国军队与其他联盟国家合作，向难民提供人道主义援助，为库尔德人建立了难民营。随着时间的推移，伊拉克士兵和战舰继续袭击北部的库尔德人和南部的什叶派穆斯林。以美国为首的联军部队在伊拉克北部和南部建立了安全区。多年以后，这些“禁飞”地区仍然限制着伊拉克的军事空中活动。布什总统还下令美国军队加入索马里的其他部队。到1992年底，干旱和持续内战使得民不聊生。反对武装的少数民族继续阻止索马里人获得食物和其他援助物资。美国士兵为饥饿的人们提供援助。1992年底签署《北美自由贸易协定》。该协定呼吁美国和墨西哥取消税收和其他贸易壁垒。墨西哥和加拿大同意采取类似行动。北美自由贸易协定于1994年生效，当时乔治·布什刚刚卸任。一些人担心《北美自由贸易协定》会影响数以百万计的工人。其他人为布什总统支持这项协议称赞连连。执政的第三年，布什总统因为国际活动广受欢迎。看来他将在1992年轻松连任。然而，历史学家经常说，政治局势风云变幻。这就是美国第41任总统的遭遇。美国国内的经济问题和其他问题开始严重损害乔治·赫伯特·沃克·布什的声望。译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
